United States v. Kerr
| Decision Date | 07 February 1908 |
| Docket Number | 17. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. KERR. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
The defendant was tried before Hon. John B. McPherson, at the December sessions of the District Court, upon an indictment containing nine counts, charging him, under Rev. St. Secs 3891, 5467 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 2657, 3691), with having unlawfully delayed, embezzled, opened, and rifled three certain registered letters, which had come into his custody in the ordinary course of his duties as a rural letter carrier attached to the post office at Darby, Pa. As to the first and third letters the indictment charged both delaying (Rev. St. Sec 3891) and embezzling, etc. (Rev. St. Sec. 5467). As to the second letter the indictment contained but a single count for delaying.
A motion to quash the indictment was based, inter alia, and as to certain counts, upon the contention that as to all except the first three counts of the indictment, relating to the first letter, the defendant had been unlawfully denied a preliminary hearing, and that the indictment had been sent before the grand jury without leave of court and without previous warrant or binding over. This contention was again urged in support of the motion in arrest of judgment. Other questions of law were involved in the case; but, as the same were not discussed in the opinion of the court, they are not set forth in this statement of the facts.
The defendant was arrested at Ft. Slocum, N.Y., upon a warrant of arrest issued by a United States commissioner for the Southern district of New York, upon affidavit made by a postal inspector; the affidavit and the warrant charging the offense of delay and opening with respect to the first letter only. The defendant waived a hearing, and under Rev. St. Sec 1014 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 716), was committed for trial in the Eastern district of Pennsylvania upon a warrant of removal signed by the District Judge, and based upon the same offense as alleged in the warrant of arrest. The commissioner's return was filed in the District Court on Friday, December 6th, three days prior to the opening of the December sessions of the District Court and the convening of the grand jury.
Subsequently to the commissioner's return the United States attorney became informed of the similar offenses alleged to have been committed during the same month as the first offense with respect to the two other letters, and...
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Roth v. United States
... ... state,' applies only to state procedure for arrest, ... imprisonment, or bail, and not to procedure in the federal ... courts, and that defendant obtained no vested right to a ... preliminary examination before a commissioner. Cf. United ... States v. Kerr (D.C.) 159 F. 185; United States v ... Powlowski (D.C.) 270 F. 285 ... We also ... think no error was committed in the introduction of testimony ... of a government inspector that losses or tampering with mail ... matter in the Cleveland post office had been brought to his ... ...
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United States v. Kelly
...(C. C. A.) 294 F. 475; United States v. Powlowski (D. C.) 270 F. 285; Cohen v. United States (C. C. A.) 214 F. at page 28; United States v. Kerr (D. C.) 159 F. 185. We find no ground in reason or authority for interfering with a method of identifying persons charged with crime which has now......
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United States v. Averett
...Fed. Cas. No. 16192, and in Roth v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 294 F. 475, 478, the objection was presented by motion to quash. In U. S. v. Kerr (D. C.) 159 F. 185, the objection was made by motions for arrest and for new trial. In each case the ruling was against the defendant, and in no one of thes......
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United States v. Liebrich, 7084.
...alone are not grounds for quashing the indictment. United States v. Thompson, 251 U. S. 407, 40 S. Ct. 289, 64 L. Ed. 333; United States v. Kerr (D. C.) 159 F. 185; Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S. 43, 26 S. Ct. 370, 50 L. Ed. 652; Blair v. United States, 250 U. S. 273, 39 S. Ct. 468, 63 L. Ed. 97......